April 5, 2022 Lesson Plan

If you turned in the assignment last week, you have feedback now on Blackboard. Please read it! I always have comments throughout the document for you and one “end note” comment for general take-aways. Anyone who turned in assignment later than last week, I’m going to get you feedback by tomorrow.

Accessibility, Writing, Numbers (10-15 minutes)

Take about 5 minutes and review the three readings I asked you to skim through for today’s class as well as your classmates’ Response Post 10 assignment on Discord.

Another brief reading on technical writing gives the bare bones without the details: Accessibility and Technical Writing | by Ann Green | Technical Writing is Easy | Medium (may be especially useful for people writing white papers).

On this Google Doc, list as many things related to accessibility that you think is important when it comes to writing. Try not to repeat what other people write.

 

What about data, numbers, and data visualizations make accessibility especially important? Based on what you read, what is important to keep in mind?

Here is a good reading on data visualization in particular that I did not include for today: Inclusive Design: How to Build Accessible Data Visualization | Betterment

Here is another solid one, the one above has better examples: Data Visualization Accessibility: Where Are We Now, and What’s Next? | by Melanie Mazanec | Nightingale | Medium

 

 

Adding Alt Text is easy for any PDF!!!!!: Adding Alternative Text to Non-text Content in Adobe Acrobat DC | Technology Solutions | Illinois State

Adding Alt Text in WordPress is easy: Image Alt Text vs Image Title in WordPress – What’s the Difference? (wpbeginner.com)

Adding Alt Text in HTML: HTML img alt Attribute (w3schools.com)

If you want to do it the old school way, here is an example: Cross Stitch Projects | Stephanie L. Kerschbaum (udel.edu)

 

Design and Accessibility (20-30 min)

Does good design get in the way of good accessibility? Take a moment to review the Discord Response Posts for today, too, as we think through this together.

Here are some commonalities between design and accessibility:

  • How readable it is to all audiences.
  • How pleasing it is to look at, thus increasing probability reader will stick around.
  • Navigation–how to get around a document.

Anything else?

Let’s look at two examples together to talk about its qualities of design and accessibility:

PA Projects (penndot.gov)

Facts at a Glance / Facts at a Glance (pghschools.org)

 

Design and Accessibility No Matter Your Ability:

-Color contrasts

-Headings

-Sections

-Paragraphing

-Bolding / Font Size Contrasts

-What else?

What about more advanced stuff to help? What do you think helps make something more accessible and well designed to encourage engagement?

 

More details: Design and Accessibility Quick Guide – ENG 4950: Data and Writing Toward Social Change, Spring 2021 (cuny.edu)

 

Focused Writing Session (20-30 minutes)

Follow these four steps:

  1. Take about 2-5 minutes to review comments from me on your draft, feedback you got from peer review last Thursday, and your own thoughts about how you want to move forward with your draft.
  2. Give an update about where you are at with your Data-Driven Argument project to your partner (I’ll assign you to voice channels and text channels to group up).
  3. Tell your partner(s) what your goal is for your time working together. Write your goal here. Your goal could simply be developing a revision plan: what are all the things you want to change, at this stage, about your DDA? How will you go about doing that? Alternatively, you can come up with specific things to do now: re-read draft and change things, do more analysis, find more secondary sources, finish a half-finished section, rewrite a section, work on a visualization, etc.
  4. Work for a solid 15-20 minutes.
  5. Check in with your partner at the end and talk about how you met that goal and/or your progress toward that goal and how close you came to meeting it
  6. Tell each other what the “next step or steps” are for the project for the next time you sit down to work on it. Write your next steps here.
  7. [As you work, let me know about questions in the text channel for today]

Next Time

-Consider design and accessibility concerns in your DDAs!

-Keep working on DDA

-Remember informal proposal for Campaign for Circulation due by end of day Thursday (4/7)

-Second draft of DDA due 4/14.